Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

David L. Neal

President | Z. Smith Reynolds’s Board of Trustees
David is the President of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and a former board member of the Proteus Fund. David is the co-founder and former executive director of the Fair Trial Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of representation received by people facing the death penalty. His current law practice focuses on indigent criminal appellate and capital post-conviction matters, including litigation pursuant to North Carolina's Racial Justice Act. David has previously served on several social justice and environmental boards in North Carolina. 
 
Before law school, David worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in the former Soviet country of Turkmenistan. David graduated from Oberlin College and the UNC School of Law in Chapel Hill. 

Presentations from Facing Race 2014

Moving Foundations Toward Racial Justice Grantmaking

Join us to discuss  case studies conducted by PRE on California Endowment, Woods Fund of Chicago and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation - each of which has been on a trajectory to move toward greater grantmaking aimed at combatting structural racism to achieve racial justice. The foundations operate at different levels (local, statewide and national) and are at different stages of their evolution. This session will share stories from various vantage points of trustees, staff and grantees - and importantly, will lift up lessons and opportunities where activists were able to engage and influence the institutional change processes to move funding toward racial justice.

Speakers: Lori Villarosa, David L. Neal, Caronina Grimble, Sandra Witt